TEDx speakers embrace 'be bold' theme

The independently organized TEDx San Antonio event at Trinity University's Laurie Auditorium covered a wide range of topics Saturday, from music to silence and from bacteria to the placebo effect — all in speeches of fewer than 18 minutes.

TEDx San Antonio is a local offshoot of the nearly 30-year-old TED (technology, education and design) conferences, which have included such speakers as Bill Clinton, Jane Goodall and Bono.

Saturday's event featured hometown speakers such as Lake|Flato architect Robert Harris, who spoke about the relationship between umans and nature.

“This isn't something you have to understand. This is something you should just feel,” he said, as he showed a photo of Frank Lloyd Wright's famed “Fallingwater,” a house perched atop waterfalls.

Karl Klose had the crowd laughing as he described bacteria “making whoopee” and operating in “stealth mode” while explaining their growing resistance to antibiotics.

“Dude. Bacteria is WAY COOL. Or maybe it's just the way Karl Klose is talking about it,” tweeted Molly Cox, who would take the stage later that afternoon.

Some speakers embraced the event's “be bold” theme.

Paul Johnson strode onto stage carrying a cardboard box and asked the audience if they wanted to change the world.

Hands went up around the room.

Johnson said his world-altering idea would help to raise student test scores, stem domestic violence and ease other societal ills. Then he opened his box and pulled out a sapling.